Re: Scaling shared buffer eviction

> I'd get rid of tmp_num_to_free
> and move the declaration of num_to_free inside the outer loop.  I'd
> also move the definitions of tmp_next_to_clean, tmp_recent_alloc,
> tmp_recent_backend_clocksweep into the innermost scope in which they
> are used.

okay, I have moved the tmp_* variables in innermost scope.
> 2. Also in that function, I think the innermost bit of logic could be
> rewritten more compactly, and in such a way as to make it clearer for
> what set of instructions the buffer header will be locked.
> LockBufHdr(bufHdr); if (bufHdr->refcount == 0) { if
> (bufHdr->usage_count > 0) bufHdr->usage_count--; else add_to_freelist
> = true; } UnlockBufHdr(bufHdr); if (add_to_freelist &&
> StrategyMoveBufferToFreeListEnd(bufHdr)) num_to_free--;

Changed as per suggestion.

> 3. This comment is now obsolete:
>
> +       /*
> +        * If bgwriterLatch is set, we need to waken the bgwriter, but we should
> +        * not do so while holding freelist_lck; so set it after releasing the
> +        * freelist_lck.  This is annoyingly tedious, but it happens
> at most once
> +        * per bgwriter cycle, so the performance hit is minimal.
> +        */
> +
>
> We're not actually holding any lock in need of releasing at that point
> in the code, so this can be shortened to "If bgwriterLatch is set, we
> need to waken the bgwriter."

Changed as per suggestion.
>      * Ideally numFreeListBuffers should get called under freelist spinlock,
>
> That doesn't make any sense.  numFreeListBuffers is a variable, so you
> can't "call" it.  The value should be *read* under the spinlock, but
> it is.  I think this whole comment can be deleted and replaced with
> "If the number of free buffers has fallen below the low water mark,
> awaken the bgreclaimer to repopulate it."

Changed as per suggestion.

> 4. StrategySyncStartAndEnd() is kind of a mess.  One, it can return
> the same victim buffer that's being handed out - at almost the same
> time - to a backend running the clock sweep; if it does, they'll fight
> over the buffer.  Two, the *end out parameter actually returns a
> count, not an endpoint.  I think we should have
> BgMoveBuffersToFreelist() call StrategySyncNextVictimBuffer() at the
> top of the inner loop rather than the bottom, and change
> StrategySyncStartAndEnd() so that it knows nothing about
> victimbuf_lck.  Let's also change StrategyGetBuffer() to call
> StrategySyncNextVictimBuffer() so that the logic is centralized in one
> place, and rename StrategySyncStartAndEnd() to something that better
> matches its revised purpose.

> Maybe StrategyGetReclaimInfo().

I have changed it to StrategyGetFreelistAccessInfo() as it seems most
other functions in freelist.c uses the names to sound something related
to buffers.
> 5. Have you tested that this new bgwriter statistic is actually
> working?  Because it looks to me like BgMoveBuffersToFreelist is
> changing BgWriterStats but never calling pgstat_send_bgwriter(), which
> I'm thinking will mean the counters accumulate forever inside the
> reclaimer but never get forwarded to the stats collector.

pgstat_send_bgwriter() is called in bgreclaimer loop (caller of
BgMoveBuffersToFreelist, this is similar to how bgwriter does).
I have done few tests with it before sending the previous patch.
> 6. StrategyInitialize() uses #defines for
> HIGH_WATER_MARK_FREELIST_BUFFERS_PERCENT and
> LOW_WATER_MARK_FREELIST_BUFFERS_PERCENT but inline constants (5, 2000)
> for clamping.  Let's have constants for all of those (and omit mention
> of the specific values in the comments).

Changed as per suggestion.

> 7. The line you've added to the definition of view pg_stat_bgwriter
> doesn't seem to be indented the same way as all the others.  Tab vs.
> space problem?

Fixed.

Performance Data:
-------------------------------
Configuration and Db Details
IBM POWER-7 16 cores, 64 hardware threads
RAM = 64GB
Database Locale =C
checkpoint_segments=256
checkpoint_timeout    =15min
shared_buffers=8GB
scale factor = 3000
Client Count = number of concurrent sessions and threads (ex. -c 8 -j 8)
Duration of each individual run = 5mins

All the data is in tps and taken using pgbench read-only load